Blade oiling device for stereotype plate shaving machines



FQb, E5, 1944. L w. LEONARD 9 9 BLADE OILING DEVICE FOR STEREO'I'YPE PLATE SHAVING MACHINES Filed Oct. 5,v 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i Feb. 15, 3944. w, LE N 2,341,927

BLADE OILING DEVICE FOR STERE OTYPE PLATE SHAVING MACHINES Filed Oct. 5, 1939 2 SheetS -Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 15, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BLADE OILING DEVICE FOR STEREOTYPE PLATE SHAVING MACHINES Lawrence W. Leonard, Newton, Mass.v

Application October 5, 1939, Serial No. 298,049

Claims.

The present invention relates generally to devices for effecting the oiling of cutting blades, more particularly to devices for effecting the oiling of cutting blades which function through and during frictional engagement with the cutting blades, and specifically to devices of the character described for efiecting the oiling of cutting blades between successive operations of such cutting blades: the invention is herein shown embodied in a device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade of a stereotype plate shaving machine.

As is well known in the art, stereotype plates, as they come from the casting machine, are provided with ribs on their interior, or rear, faces, which must be finished, in order to adapt the stereotype plates to fit upon the rotary printing press cylinders, to which they are destined to be attached, in a manner that will insure satisfactory printing from them. Such finishing of the ribs is effectuated by subjecting each stereotype plate to the action of a stereotype plate shaving machine, wherein the stereotype plate is held rigidly, with its exterior, or front, face in contact with an arch-like surface, while the ribs on its interior, or rear, face are subjected to a shaving operation, performed by a cutting blade travelling circularly and over the interior, or rear, face and shaving from the ribs small amounts of metal, thus reducing each stereotype plate to an effective uniform thickness, so that the stereotype plates will print uniformly when fitted to the rotary printing press cylinders.

As is also well known in the art, certain objectionable features usually characterize, or result from, such shaving operations. The stereotype plate, coming as it does directly from the casting machine, is quite hot, its temperature being not too remote from the melting point of the metal whereof the stereotype plates are composed, and the dry cutting blade, as it travels over the interior, or rear, face of the stereotype plate, hot and not too remote from the fluid-state, shaving from theribs thereof small amounts of metal, tends to cause the metal of the ribs to flow and tends to gouge out small portions thereof, thereby introducing irregularities into the very portions of the stereotype plate which must be properly finished, if the printing from the stereotype plate is to be satisfactory.

The primary objects of the present invention are the elimination of these objectionable characteristics, or results, ensuing from the performing of the shaving operation upon the ribs of hot stereotype plates; and for the accomplishing of these objects, the present invention contemplates the provision of a suitable device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade of the stereotype plate shaving machine between successive shaving operations, without interfering in any manner in such shaving operations. Among the advantages realized by the use of the present invention are eminently satisfactory regularity in the finish of the ribs on the interior, or rear, faces of the stereotype plates subjected to the action of, and the attainment of great smoothness in the'shaving operations performed by, stereotype plate shaving machines equipped with the present invention.

The attainment of these and other objects of the present invention and the advantages attendant upon its use will readily become apparent when consideration is given to the following description thereof, and to the accompanying drawings thereof, which form apart of the specification,and wherein? I Fig. 1 is an end view oi'a stereotype plate shaving machine equipped with the present invention, showing a stereotype plate held seated in the arch, with the cutting blade travelling circularly over the interior, or rear, face of the stereotype plate and performing the sharing operation upon the ribs of the stereotype p1ate,'and the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade between successive shaving operations, positioned directly below the cutting blade bar.

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, of the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade between successive shaving operations; together with the I plate shaving machine, showing the cutting blade rial l3, l3.

the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade thereof.

In the drawings, l designates a well known type of shaving arch, in contact with which the stereotype plate 2 is held during the shaving operation: above the shaving arch I is the usual hollow compartment 3, through which cooling Water is passed during the shaving operation. The stereotype plate 2 is introduced into the stereotype plate shaving machine by means of the rollers 4, when they are at a level lower than the level at which they are shown in the drawings, by mechanisms well known in the art and therefore not illustrated in the drawings.

The cutting blade bar 5, carrying the Cutting blade 6 secured to it by suitable means permitting adjustment with respect thereto and removal therefrom, extends within, and longitudinally parallel to, the shaving arch l. Positioned below the cutting blade bar is the device for efiecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6, which device is secured to the end walls of the stereotype plate shaving machine by angle irons and slot-andbolt construction permitting adjustments, with respect to the cutting blade 5, of the device for efi'ecting the oiling of the cutting blade 8.

The device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 comprises a reservoir for holding the oil, means for regulating the amount of the oil to be transferred to the cutting blade and means for effecting the transfer of the oil to the cutting blade. In particular, the reservoir for holding the oil consistsof the cylinder 1,. provided with a longitudinally extending lateral narrow mouth 8 and with a plurality of partial partitions 9. The means for transferring the oil .to the cutting blade 6 consist of a sheet of wick-like material It), held between two sheets of a stiiiiy resilient material resistant to wear by friction and by bending II, l2, which are themselves held between two even more resilient sheets of an oil-impervious mate- In particular, the sheet of wick-like material I0 may consist of felt, or of a suitable variety of canvas, or of any textile of rugged construction which will serve as a wick, while the two sheets of a stifily resilient material resistant to wear by friction and by bending II, [2 may consist of leather, and the two even more resilient sheets of an oil-impervious material [3, l3 may consist of thin sheet steel or spring brass. This ensemble constitutes a sort of stratified tonguelike structure, and presents a surface moist with oil. The means for regulating the amount of the oil to be transferred to the cutting blade 6 consists of the bar l4, disposed longitudinally within the longitudinally extending lateral narrow mouth 8 of the cylinder 1, int-o which are threaded a plurality of bolts l5, which pass through the upper and lower walls of the longitudinally extending lateral narrow mouth 8 of the cylinder I, and which are provided with hand-manipulatable heads I6 and with stop means l7. It is tolerably obvious that, by manipulation of the handmanipulatable heads l6 of the bolts I5, the bar it can be drawn up against the stratified tonguelike structure, thus efiecting compression thereof between the bar l4 and the inner face of the upper wall of the longitudinally extending lateral narrow mouth 8 of the cylinder 7. In other words, the bar i4 and the bolts [5, manipulatable by the hand-manipulatable heads l6, cooperating with the upper Wall of the longitudinally extending lateral narrow mouth 8 of the cylinder 1, ef-

, feet and permit substantial regulation of the rate of flow of the oil by capillary attraction in the sheet of wick-like material ill.

The device for efiecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 is positioned, as is shown in Fig. 3, with the stratified tongue-like structure substantially parallel to the edge of the cutting blade 6. Since the cutting blade bar 5 is mounted to rotate upon an axis which is disposed, in slight degree, angularly from the horizontal plane, the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 will likewise be disposed, in the same degree, angularly from the horizontal plane. Did the reservoir consist simply of the cylinder '1, devoid of the partial partitions 9, the cross-sectional distribution of the oil would vary markedly along the length of the cylinder 1, so that when the right end portion of the cylinder 1, as shown in Fig. 3, was full of oil, the left end portion of the cylinder 1 might be but half full, and when the right end portion of the cylinder 1. still contained an appreciable amount of oil, the left end portion of the cylinder 1 might have become completely emptied. Under these circumstances, the velocity of the flow of the oil in the sheet of wick-like material it would vary markedly along the length of the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 even when there was a sufficiency of oil in the cylinder 1, being the least at the left end, and the greatest at the right end, of the cylinder 1: while, in theory, no finite number of partial partitions 9 in the cylinder 1 will suifice to maintain the oil at a level parallel to the edge of the stratified tongue-like structure, or to the edge of the cutting blade 6, in practice two, or a slightly greater number of, partial partitions 9, 9 are sufiicient to eliminate the variation in the velocity of the flow of the oil in the sheet of wick-like material It] along the length of the device for efiecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6. Thus provided with the two partial partitions 9, 9, the reservoir is loaded with oil by means of the feed pipe iii: the left end compartment of the cylinder 1 becomes filled first and then the oil overflows into the middle compartment, which, in turn, becomes filled, and then the oil overflows into the right end compartment of the cylinder 1, which then becomes filled. With the partial partitions 9, 9 inserted in the cylinder 1, it is obvious that the sheet of wick-like material l0 must be adapted to fit around these partial partitions 9, 9; and, accordingly, such adaptation is effected by cutting out of the sheet of wick-like material In narrow rectangular portions.

The operation of the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 is extremely simple: the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 is positioned that the cutting blade 6, in traveling circularly, strikes first the upper sheet of the stilily resilient material resistant to Wear by friction and by bending ll, traverses it, and, in so doing, bends it downwardly in slight degree, then strikes the sheet of wick-like material I0 laden with oil, traverses it, and, in so doing, bends it downwardly in slight degree and gathers from it a quantity of oil, and finally strikes the lower sheet of the stillly resilient material resistant to wear by friction and by bending I2, traverses it, and, in so doing, bends it downwardly in slight degree and leaves thereon a fraction of the amount of the oil gathered from the sheet of wick-like material It]: the oil retained by, and upon, the cutting blade 6 is distributed along its edge, as is shown at IS in Fig. 2. The presence of this quantity of oil at the edge of the cutting blade 6 is adequate to eifect the accomplishment of the two objects of the present invention-to forestall the production of irregularities in the ribs on the interior, or rear, faces of the stereotype plates, and to attain great smoothness in the shaving operations. The omission of either of the two sheets of the stiflly resilient material resistant to wear by friction and b bending ll, l2 results in excessive consumption of the oil and in improper loading of the cutting blade 6 with the oil. It is a noteworthy fact that, over a substantial period of time of use, the ends of the three sheets H, Ill, l2 are not skived down into a common plane, but the right angle edges of these three sheets, shown in Fig. l, persist, and their persistence may well be an important factor in the attainment of the correct functioning of the device for effect ing the oiling of the cutting blade 6.

It is clear that the minimum quantity of the oil to be delivered to the cutting blade 6 for the satisfactory operation thereof will be a function of the Velocity of the flow of the oil in the sheet of wick-like material Ill, and that this velocity will be regulated by the degree of compression to which the Stratified tongue-like structure is subjected by means of the bar I4 and the bolts l5 provided with the hand-manipulatable heads Hi. In other words, a brief period of experimentation will sufiice to determine the adjustment of the pressure upon the stratified tongue-like structure to be made, in order to attain the optimum results, with the minimum consumption of oil, in the use of the present invention.

It is also fairly apparent that the device for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade 6 can be employed for the purpose of effecting the oiling of cutting blades in serrated forms, provided that the edges of the separate serrations lie in substantially a straight line.

While I have shown and described a particular form of device for effecting the oiling of cutting blades in which I, at present, prefer to embody my invention, I am aware that many changes can, and may, be made therein by persons skilled in the art without departing from the principles of my invention, or from the scope thereof, as expressed in the appended claims. Therefore, I do not want to be limited to the particular embodiment of my invention which is herein illustrated and described, but what I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a stereotype plate shaving machine comprising a shaving arch for receiving the stereotype plate to be shaved, means for supporting the edges of the stereotype plate to maintain the stereotype plate seated in the shaving arch, and a cutting blade bar bearing a, cutting blade for shaving the ribs on the interior, or rear, face of the stereotype plate, and means presenting an oil-bearing surface to the cutting blade during each successive revolution of the cutting blade.

2. A device for effecting the oiling of cutting blades by frictional contact therewith comprising an oil reservoir provided with a mouth, a plurality of sheets of stifily resilient material, a sheet of wick-like material disposed substantially between sheets of stifily resilient material, and a plurality of flexible sheets of metal disposed about the sheets of stifiiy resilient material and wicklike material, the ensemble of sheets of stifliy resilient material and wick-like material and flexible sheets of metal being positioned and supported in the mouth of the oil reservoir.

3. A device for effecting the oiling of cutting blades by frictional contact therewith comprising an oil reservoir provided with a mouth, a plurality of sheets, of stiffly resilient material, a sheet of wick-like material disposed substantially between sheets of stiflly resilient material, and a plurality of flexible sheets of metal disposed about the sheets of stiffiy resilient material and wick-like material, the ensemble of sheets of stifily resilient material and wick-like material and flexible sheets of meta1 being positioned and supported in the mouth of the oil reservoir, and compressing means, located in the mouth of the oil reservoir, for supporting and for exerting a force of compression upon the said ensemble of sheets of stifliy resilient material and wick-like material and flexible sheets of metal.

4. The combination of stereotype plate shaving machine comprising a shaving arch for receiving the stereotype plate to be shaved, means for sup porting the edges of the tereotype plate to maintain the stereotype plate seated in the shaving arch, and a cutting blade bar bearing a cutting blade for shaving the ribs on the interior, or rear, face of the stereotype plate, and means for efiecting the oiling of the cutting blade by frictional contact therewith during each successive revolution of the cutting blade.

5. The combination of a stereotype plate shaving machine comprising a shaving arch for receiving the stereotype plate to be shaved, means for supporting the edges of the stereotype plate to maintain the stereotype plate seated in the shaving arch, and a cutting blade bar bearing a. cutting blade for shaving the ribs on the interior, or rear, face of the stereotype plate, and means for effecting the oiling of the cutting blade by frictional contact therewith during each successive revolution of the cutting blade comprising an oil reservoir provided with a mouth, an oil transporting element positioned and supported in the mouth of the oil reservoir and presenting an ,oil-bearing surface to the cutting blade, and means for controlling the transporting of the oil by the oil transporting element.

' LAWRENCE W. LEONARD. 

